Browns Insider: Stallworth says he'll be ready for Giants

The bye week comes at an opportune time for receiver Donte' Stallworth, who said Monday he'll be ready to make his Browns debut against the Giants in the big Monday night game Oct. 13.

"I was pretty close to being ready [Sunday], but it just wasn't quite there," he said. "My biggest thing is I didn't want to become a liability, so I feel like now with this bye week, it gives me an extra week to be ready and try to strengthen everything. I'm excited to take my cheerleading outfit off and put on a Cleveland Browns uniform."

He said he thinks his experience can be a factor.

"It can definitely help out some of the younger guys, as far as being able to go out and hopefully make some plays," Stallworth said.

He said he suffered no setbacks last week despite the fact he practiced midweek and then sat out Friday.

"No, but on a personal level, I didn't feel like I was really ready to beat anyone," he said. "I can run straight ahead fine, but the cutting -- obviously what I do playing receiver and in and out of my breaks -- wasn't quite there yet."

The Browns' biggest off-season acquisition on offense, Stallworth said he felt terrible being out the whole first quarter of the season.

"I know it's probably not the right thing to say, but I felt like I wasn't even part of the team," he said. "I was just going to meetings and trying to stay abreast of everything. Now I'll be practicing this week a little more and finally be able to touch the field this next game." Smith surgery: Defensive lineman Shaun Smith, who's been playing with a cast on his broken left hand, will undergo surgery this morning, but coach Romeo Crennel said he'll be ready for the Giants game. General Manager Phil Savage praised Smith for his versatility, especially with end Robaire Smith out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. Another bottlegate: Fullback Lawrence Vickers, who did an outstanding job of blocking in Cincinnati, was hit in the eye with a beer bottle on Jamal Lewis' touchdown run.

"The bottle flew out of the stands," Vickers said. "It hit the top of my helmet and the top of the bottle, the part you drink out of, came across my eye, and I had beer all over my face."

He said the cut was small, but joked, "but it's messing up my modeling career."

Vickers said he didn't know what had happened at first, if he had been poked in the eye or what. Then he smelled beer and thought, "I know I haven't had anything to drink."

When he figured out what it was, "I kind of snapped because why would somebody throw a bottle on the field? When I jumped up, I'm looking at the ref, and I'm kind of angry and upset. He was like, 'I can't do anything about it.' I didn't see anybody running over there to try to see who did it. I was more upset than anything."

He said he smelled like beer for the rest of the game. As for his fine blocking, he said, "All I want to do is a little dirty work. I don't ask for too much." Winslow talks: Savage said "there really hasn't been" much in the way of new contract talks for Kellen Winslow.

"As I've said all along, we've kept talks open," Savage said. "We've kept an open communication, but for the most part, those kinds of things are on the back burner. The first priority is to try to win a football game, and those kinds of things tend to sort themselves out over time. You have to have some patience with it, and that's really what we're trying to do in some of these contract situations." Injury updates: Savage said offensive lineman Ryan Tucker (hip) is closer to returning to the field than receiver Joe Jurevicius (knee), who is eligible to start practicing in mid-October if the Browns choose to open his practice window under the terms of the physically unable-to-perform list. Savage said Jurevicius is doing some running and some jogging, but no football-related activities. . . . Tucker might replace Kevin Shaffer in the Giants game. Shaffer has a broken hand and suffered a concussion in Cincinnati. . . . Savage said it's up in the air whether or not safety Sean Jones (knee) will be ready for the Giants game. He said it's been 4½ weeks, and the original prognosis was that it would be six.

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